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Author Notes:Standing rib roast is the perfect choice for very special occasions. It is also surprisingly easy to cook. You will spend more time making your house look nice than cooking. This is my mother's recipe. She makes it for our Christmas dinner every year. The biggest challenge is calculating the cooking time so that the meat is ready when you are. Just in case, have some nice hor d'oeuvres and champagne to hold everyone over.
"And the minute his heart didn't feel quite so tight, He whizzed with his load through the bright morning light And he brought back the toys! And the food for the feast! And he...HE HIMSELF...! The Grinch carved the roast beast!"
How The Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss - waverly —Waverly

Food52 Review: This roast turns out beautifully moist and juicy. There is a nice variety of degrees of doneness from the edges to the center, so there is something for every guest at your table. The whipped cream sauce is a nice complement; the thickness and texture of whipped cream is a great vehicle for the horseradish, giving a kick that compliments the meat. Add lemon juice to taste to perfect the sauce. Don't skip the mushrooms. I loved the addition of Worcestershire -- the perfect little bit of something salty. - biffbourgeois —Stephanie Bourgeois

MARINATE: In a food processor, place salt, pepper, garlic, shallots, rosemary, thyme, and olive oil. Pulse until combined. Place the roast bone-side down in a large pan and pour the marinade over it. Rub as much as you can into every crevasse. Cover and refrigerate 4-24 hours.

ROAST: Remove the meat and let it come to room temperature, about 1 hour before you plan to put it into the oven. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 550 and place the rack in the center. Insert a meat thermometer into the thickest part of the roast. When the oven is ready, place the roast, uncovered, into the oven. Immediately reduce the oven temperature to 350. Cook until the thermometer registers 125 degrees, about 15-20 minutes per pound, or 2 1/2 hours for an 8 lb roast. Check the temperature of the meat in several other places. A range of 125-155 will give you a good variety of doneness. Cover the roast with foil and let it rest on the counter at least 15 minutes before carving.

MAKE THE SAUCE : You can do this while the meat cooks. In a medium bowl, beat cream until stiff. With the mixer on, add lemon juice, salt, paprika, cayenne and horseradish. Chill until ready to serve.

SAUTE THE MUSHROOMS: Heat a large skillet over HIGH heat. Add the butter and olive oil. When the butter foams, give the pan a shake and then add the mushrooms, Worcestershire sauce, and garlic. Toss the mushrooms until brown, about 5-10 minutes. Remove from heat and season with salt and pepper to taste. Toss with parsley and then place in a serving dish.

CARVE: Slice the first piece between the ribs, close to the bone. Cut the second piece half way to the next bone and so on and so on giving each person basically half of the meat between the ribs.

SERVE: Top with sauteed mushrooms and whipped horseradish sauce. Garnish with fresh parsley.

I have made this twice and it is amazing! I love to cook ad this is one of my FAVORITE recipes for prime rib! Onee our best friends who is strictly "meat and potatoes" said it was perfect! Thanks for sharing.

I made this for Christmas dinner. I used my new convection oven (second outing); also, the guests were really late and so the roast rested for over an hour. Not sure if that was why, or if the time/temperature was off (I took it out at 125 degrees), but it ended up very well done. But it was still delicious—really moist and good!

Made this for Xmas dinner and found the roast wonderful, the mushrooms tasty and the horseradish sauce underwhelming for those of us who like the tang and punch of prepared horseradish. I added twice the amount of freshly grated called for and it was still much too mild.

I am currently marinating this! Has anyone tried browning at end vs high heat beginning? A lot of rib roast recipes I was browsing suggested 450 for half hour then finishing for 45-60 min at 350...getting nervous as time nears where I need to throw this in oven!!

We always went for 275 for more even redness through the meat - at 350, you will get more browning around edge with lovely pink inside. Up to you. Try a broil at end if you don't use high heat at first.

Made this for Christmas dinner and was overall delicious but we found the horseradish sauce way to lemony. Didn't have more horseradish so adjusted it with some mustard and worked OK but wondering if anyone else had this problem.

Made this yesterday for Christmas dinner and am AMAZED at how wonderful it turned out. The marinade makes the meat beautifully flavored throughout, better than any other prime rib I've ever had, or made previously. The horseradish cream is perfection, although it made far more than we needed so I think it could be easily halved or quartered, depending on the size of your roast. The mushrooms didn't add anything for my tastes, but everyone else at the table loved them. Thanks for the wonderful recipe!

To comment, try the stovetop browning (recipe came from J. Pepin). This eliminates the high heat initially to brown the roast. And an oven takes a long time to go from high to medium or low heat. So by eliminating the high heat initially, you will have more even cooking through the meat, rather than the outside being more done than the interior. It would be interesting to try the high-heat blast at the end, if not using the initial browning.

Horseradish sauce sounds very good.I believe, tho, a standing rib roast is not the same as a prime rib. This recipe is good for either. Another way I recently prepared a prime is to brown it quickly over high heat on stovetop, right in the roasting pan, the put browned ribs into 250 oven and cook for 1/2 hr per #. Check for doneness. Ours was done (we thought overdone) 1 hour before, so we rested it longer - it was perfect. Only problem with this way is that there is less fond to work with. Johnny's AuJus works well for a sauce.

Served this with the parsnip and potato mash from food52, with the sauce and the mushrooms, green salad and some bread, and a nice red wine. It was a hit for Christmas day! ! Every flavor worked together to make an unforgettable dinner. 5.7lb. 3 - rib roast served 4 adults with one rib leftover.